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UpperRegister wrote:

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Was that Roger Ingram who hit that really nice high A at the end of Rhythm Method on the album Live in London.

Maybe. To be honest, I don't remember. There were 3 of us in the trumpet section on that date who were certainly capable of playing a high A. ;-) What I DO recall is during the recording, the 1st trumpet parts were split pretty evenly between Walter, Craig and myself.

That particular record was a difficult one to do. At the time, there was a heat wave occurring in England. During the entire week we recorded, London was experiencing triple digit temperatures. Because of the relatively small size of Ronnie Scott's, the suboptimal "air conditioning," and the fact the club was standing room only, in that heat, attempts to play in tune became VERY challenging (to say the least.) As I'm sure we all know, in high temperature environments, brass and reed instruments have a tendency to play sharp whereas stringed instruments will go flat: nice combination. ;-) As well, the acoustical nature of Ronnie's is very "dead." I remember sitting in Maynard's dressing room and drinking loads of water with him between sets. Of course, then I had to visit the men's room a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't always do that when I wanted to, because I'd be playing...you know...high A's. ;-)

After we made the recording, "Live in London" didn't come out for almost two years. I had already left the band (again) and was touring with Harry Connick by the time it was released. I had pretty much forgotten about doing that album, and was involved with a lot of other projects by then. Although 3 of us split the lead book during that tour, Craig Johnson was the "official" 1st trumpet player on the version of Maynard's band when "Live in London" was recorded. Basically, I only agreed to do the short tour and the album that year (1990.) That was the arrangement I had with Maynard. Every tour I ever did with Maynard's band was associated with a scheduled recording date. Maynard always knew this up front, and was aware that I would be departing his band soon after each album was completed. When you went out on Maynard's band, you went out there to hang with Maynard. No one ever got rich by being a side-man with Maynard Ferguson, and I had bills to pay. However, the experience of hanging with Maynard for a number of months was invaluable and some of the greatest times I've ever had in my life.

Because of the time-lag between the recording and release dates of "Live in London," whomever wrote the liner notes committed the faux pas of giving me full credit for playing lead. I remember just how upset Craig was about that (and understandably so.) Of course, I had nothing to do with the liner notes. Craig had bought the CD and called me while I was out touring with Harry to tell me how upset he was about the "screw-up." Because a record company is the party responsible for listing musician credits on their recordings, the only thing I could think to suggest was that Craig talk to Ed Sargent. I thought maybe Ed could get the record company to make any necessary edits on the next pressing (if there ever was one.) I'm not really sure how it all turned out. Sometimes s**t just happens...

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving!
Roger

Hello VINTAGE MF,

Because the 1950's and '60's was my favorite period of Maynard's career, I was especially pleased to participate in the "60th Birthday Big Band Tour." It was very exciting for me to play many of those classic arrangements from that era, and do it WITH Maynard; that was really a dream come true.

We recorded Big Bop Nouveau in a studio in Santa Barbara CA after the tour had concluded; it was done in a day. Regarding the MF Hit Medley: we all had individual microphones and it was recorded with a mobile unit. The live mix was done using the board in the truck. I'm not sure why Maynard and Ed decided to use a live version versus a studio version of the "Hit Medley." Perhaps they thought it would be more exciting with all the crowd noise. Perhaps somebody involved with making that decision was feeling "artsy" at the time. ;-)

Big Bop Nouveau was recorded over 21 years ago and I've listened to it exactly once. I've recorded over 100 records with various artists in my life and have listened to a few of them once; most are still in their wrappers. I remember what happens in the studio and that's good enough for me. Sorry I cannot expound a bit more for you. Besides this being a love of mine, it's also a business; therefore, I have a tendency to want to "move on" with my thoughts. Once I pack up my horn and accessories and leave the recording venue, the project is over for me.

Roger

Hello,

As I have alluded to in previous posts on this thread, it can be difficult to answer questions about recording projects I participated in over 20 years ago. I don't even know where my copies of these albums are. I sort of looked for them Thursday, with no success.

Concerning Harry: I started playing trumpet in 1965. I started earning money as a trumpet player in 1972. I did my first road tour in 1974. Harry organized his big band in 1990. By the time Harry called me to join his band, I had already been a working professional for 18 years, 16 of which had been spent mainly on the road. There was no audition. I had already recorded numerous albums with Woody Herman, Ray Charles, Maynard Ferguson, Bill Medley, and Frank Mantooth. Harry and the people helping to organize his band simply called me and offered me the job. In fact, I can't honestly say I've ever participated in an audition during my entire professional playing career.

To answer your question, Harry is a great guy. He's down to earth and very real. To answer another one of your questions, if you read the liner notes to any of Harry's big band albums that he has recorded since "Blue Light, Red Light" (1990) you will notice that Joe Barati plays bass trombone on every one. Joe is, of course, another MF alumni.

My stay in Australia was very nice. I always enjoy going down under. ;-)

Roger